We think everyone deserves a round of applauseJust under the wire last week, the State Senate was able to pass a bill to make reforms to the Queens Library that would open up the books and make the Board of Trustees more accountable. But that'...

Did he have to dis the dog?We're not sure how we overlooked this here at Pol Position, but there was a friendly wager between Mayor Bill de Blasio and Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti over the Stanley Cup matchup between the ...

Aren't you forgetting someone?Surely they just simply forgot to invite him, right? Last week, a trio of Flushing elected officials – State Senator Toby Stavisky, Assemblyman Ron Kim and Councilman Peter Koo – held a closed-door...

Avella-Liu race could be good for...Republicans?We've been so preoccupied with the impending Democratic Primary for a northeast Queens State Senate seat pitting political heavyweights Tony Avella and John Liu against each other that we have fail...

Two Political Futures - Maybe Three - At StakeIf you have even a passing interest in New York City or Queens politics, you've no doubt heard by now that there is a major political throw down about to happen in northeast Queens. Or as some are ...

Liu v. Avella race a realityWell, it's now official. The hottest and most contested race in Queens this election season is going to be for a state senate seat in northeast Queens, where former councilman and city comptroller ...

Friendly wagerLast week, we wrote about a bet between Toronto Mayor Rob Ford and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams on the NBA playoff series between the Raptors and the Nets, and the issue of making sure the...

Pol sings praises of new bill, sort ofIf you happen to be one of those people who actually likes to read the rest of the paper and doesn't just turn to the Pol Position page, devour it greedily, and then toss the rest of the paper into...

Pol saves Toronto's reputationToronto, you are truly a city of your word! You may have thought that the biggest thing riding on the opening playoff series between the Brooklyn Nets and Toronto Crapt...er, Raptors...was a trip t...

Dispatches from the Inner CircleThis past weekend, the City Hall press corps held its annual Inner Circle variety show, a roast of the sitting mayor that has been taking place since 1923. Apparently, Pol Position's invitation onc...

Switch paying off for Avella, so farAt an unrelated event for Congresswoman Grace Meng just following State Senator Tony Avella's decision to join the Independent Democratic Conference (IDC), both Meng and former comptroller John Liu...

Only in New York State politicsThere's a lot of reasons to delay a federal corruption trial; the accused hasn't had sufficient time to mount a defense, a key witness is unavailable, health reasons. But only in New York City woul...

Avella breaks from Senate DemsSome people aren't too happy about State Senator Tony Avella's decision to join a breakaway group of Senate Democrats who conference with the Republican Party. Avella announced last week that he wa...

Pol puts pressure on library head to quitThe water was already starting to get hot for beleaguered Queens Library President Thomas Galante after news broke that he made close to $400,000 a year, had a private smoking deck added to his off...

US investigators launched dawn raids Tuesday on dozens of Los Angeles locations suspected of offering "maternity tourism" services for mostly Chinese mothers wanting to give birth in the United States. The raids targeted apartment complexes in the Irvine, Rancho Cucamonga, Rowland Heights and Walnut districts outside LA where the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency says foreign clients are housed. "Such businesses provide travel and lodging services to pregnant foreign nationals interested in coming to the United States to give birth so their offspring will be American citizens," ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice said. According to ICE, the maternity tourism businesses cater mostly to Chinese women who pay $15,000-$50,000 for the services, which can include getting social security numbers and US passports for their offspring.

By Jeffrey Heller JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may have made an argument that many Israelis support in warning Congress on Tuesday about a potential nuclear deal with Iran, but critics asked whether it was worth the widening rift with the White House. The address was broadcast live on Israeli television and radio, and came at a politically sensitive time -- just two weeks before a closely contested election in which Netanyahu is seeking a fourth term. Israeli political commentators called it a polished performance by the U.S.-educated politician, but agreed with President Barack Obama's assessment that Netanyahu offered nothing new in his criticism of U.S.-led talks with Iran. Netanyahu could use a boost: an opinion poll released several hours before the speech gave the center-left Zionist Union 24 seats to 21 for Likud in the 120-member parliament.